Review: Sushi Masa Japanese Restaurant

We stumbled upon Sushi Masa by accident and after our first dinner, we’ve decided to add this restaurant to our regular Nihonshoku destinations in Sydney’s ever changing inner west. The culinary delights here are very much spot on with the taste, texture and artistry of Japanese cooking.

Sushi BarLocated on the ground floor of one of the new modern apartment buildings along Pyrmont Bridge Road in Camperdown, the former home of the Royal Alexandria Hospital for Children. The restaurant has both indoor and outdoor seating areas, soft lighting and a mix of traditional and modern Japanese decor. There’s a sushi bar for those who want to watch the Sushi Chef, as he showcases his expert knife skills to cut prepare sashimi and sushi.

Beef Tataki

Our evening meal started with Beef Tataki – $11, thin-sliced beef which was quickly seared over high heat, leaving the inside very rare served with thinly chopped shallots and grated ginger. The meat was tender and perfectly washed down by Asahi Beer – $6.

Nasu DengakuHands down to the Nasu Dengaku – $10.50, creamy (nasu) eggplant slathered with sweet and savoury sweet miso (dengaku). The miso and eggplant is an incredibly fantastic combination, its looks simple, but the depth of flavours are amazing.

Sashimi DeluxeAesthetically presented, the Sashimi Deluxe – $17.50, assortment of slices of tuna, king fish, salmon and bonito tataki, served on top of fresh greens accompanied by wasabi and pickled ginger. We always like to scoff our sashimi with a bowl of rice, yum!

We were looking forward to the spicy sauce as per description on the menu of the BBQ Chicken – $15, it turned out to be just teriyaki sauce and not spicy at all. Nicely presented, the tender chicken with crispy skin and, the sauce was sticky and sweet with an accompanying fresh salad.

BBQ ChickenFor sushi, we opted to try their tuna hand roll (Temaki) $6 each, a rolled seaweed cone, wrapped around rice with tuna filling. The sushi rice was well balanced, sweet and a touch sour.

Temaki SushiThough there were little hit-and-misses, Sushi Masa is a little gem in the inner west, attentive staff and they’re willing to go extra mile to explain the dishes if you’re not familiar with Japanese food.